Today, the Chicago Cubs made their Opening Day 26-man roster officially official, which includes their official Injury List moves to open the year.
Three players go on the 10-day Injured List, all retroactive to March 29: right-handed pitchers Jonathan Holder (right shoulder strain) and Rowan Wick (left oblique strain), and catcher Austin Romine (right knee sprain). Each of the injuries was already known, so there aren’t any scary surprises here.
Wick has been behind all Spring Training with an oblique issue that he got over last year, and then it came back when he started throwing again this year. He’s off the mound now, so the hope is that he could be facing batters soon, and maybe play in some of the alternate site games before returning later this month. That the Cubs have placed him only on the 10-day IL rather than the 60-day IL is a good sign.
The same is true for Romine and his balky knee, which the Cubs must not currently be guessing is a long-term injury. The team picked up Tony Wolters as a back-up for now, which will buy them time for Romine to get fully healthy.
Holder, one of the few big league signings in the bullpen, might have been optioned to open the season anyway given the crowded bullpen, so the Cubs will give him plenty of time to get right. You’ll recall that he’s a guy who has previously been awesome with the Yankees, but was still something of a bounce-back-type candidate.